Ally had a Centrelink debt of approximately $50,000 in total for child care related payments.
Ally is from a refugee background and is the mother of 8 children. During the debt period, Ally underwent treatment for significant health issues and as a result, she was not able to meet her study requirements for the child care payments.
BRQ provided advocacy at the Centrelink internal appeal level and asked Centrelink to consider waiving the debt on the basis of special circumstances. Ally was able to provide medical evidence to Centrelink for the debt period.
The Centrelink authorised review officer waived the whole debt amount.